Jesse Malin is a ex-frontman of New York punk legends D-Generation,
but in truth with his acoustic guitar strapped on permanently for the whole
show and an audience who I was convinced for the duration of tonight's
show were going to turn round, laugh in my face and proceed to start in
a choreographed line dancing routine I don't know what to make of the situation.
The story goes that Jesse was touring the States in punk bands since he
was 12 or 13 and lived the rock & roll dream early on before becoming
disenchanted with the whole Punk scene who were more interested in moshing
than actually listening to the lyrics. After Malin scored the soundtracks
for several Hollywood movie's, alt-country superstar Ryan Adams moved to
New York and being a massive fan of D-Generation they became friends before
Adams offered to produce his debut album "The Fine Art Of Self Destruction".
Thus came Malin's step into the spotlight and a support slot on Ryan Adams
acoustic tour last year.

For most people starting off with your most accessible song would be
tantamount to being crucified by your audience later on, but like Adams
much of Malin's audience are here to soak in the stories and the more reflective
moments. "Downliner" for me is just the perfect 4 minutes you could imagine,
but there's an element about the whole of tonight set which suggest he's
not even in the same league as singer songwriters like Pete Yorn. Sure
his stories of his life in Queens are darkly entertaining tales of whores,
drugs and depravity and would make a great novel, but there's something
distinctly middle of the road about Malin which detracts from the lyrical
themes. "Wendy" is probably Malin's most simplistic lyrical passage with
a song about a girl who shared the same interests of Tom Waits, The Kinks
and Kerouac, but then simply walked away when it wasn't working out. "High
Lonesome" is just on the right side of country music, but still brings
too many images of thigh slapping and line dancers forward for it's own
good. "Arrested", the token new song for the tour, tells the tale about
one of his friends who was forced to work security at a Brothel in order
to put the food on the table and when he got arrested his family found
out that he wasn't simply a bouncer at a club.

Apologizing for his president profusely throughout the show may have
become de rigeur for US Artists, but you get the feeling that Jesse Malin
generally has total contempt for both Bush and the American Dream. With
the sort of depravity he's seen in Queens and the fact that Major Guilliani
played a part in closing down the punk scene of New York (and Malin's own
club as a result). Leaving the stage with the message "Feminists have told
me I'm being sexist for this comment, but I don't care. F**k The War -
Bush Is A C*nt!!!" before launching into a cover of "What's so Funny 'bout
Peace, Love & Understanding?" originally performed by Elvis Costello
and written by Nick Lowe. It shows that under that AOR exterior that Malin
is still a punk at heart.